


The Touch of You

by elphiethropp



Category: Wicked - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Desert Island Fic, F/F, Fluff, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 19:49:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8858509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elphiethropp/pseuds/elphiethropp
Summary: ‘Of all the people to be stranded on a desert island with, why in the name of Oz did it have to beyou?!’
When a spell goes awry, Galinda and Elphaba find themselves trapped on an island far away from anything they've ever known. Will they be able to find their way home? And will they manage to get along with each other long enough to do so?





	

‘Of all the people to be stranded on a desert island with, why in the name of Oz did it have to be _you?!_ ’

Galinda looked around at their surroundings in despair. She had no idea where they could be- as far as she knew, Oz was completely landlocked. And yet they were definitely on a beach. Galinda had never seen the ocean, but she knew instinctively that the roaring, crashing water was too wild to simply be a river or a large lake. She turned around, hoping to see any sign of human life – or Animal life for that matter- so that she wouldn’t have to talk to Elphaba anymore. And so that they could get help too, of course.

No luck. There were rocks and sand as far as Galinda could see, which wasn’t very far because of the jagged cliffs about a hundred feet behind them. Grunting in frustration, she whirled around and came face to face with Elphaba. It was a little disconcerting how quietly the green girl moved, but after being roommates for several months, Galinda was used to it.

“For your information, Miss Galinda, you wouldn’t be my first choice either.” Elphaba said dryly.

Not having a reply, Galinda simply scowled at her.

 “Also,” Elphaba added “I don’t think it’s a desert island. It feels far too cold for that.”

“Does it matter? All that matters is that we’re trapped here, we’re probably going to _die_ here, and it’s all your fault.”

“My fault?  How on earth do you figure that this is my fault?!”

“You cast that spell! If you hadn’t screwed it up, we would still be in our magic lesson right now!”

“I cast the spell wrong because you were trying your best to distract me, and you know it.”

It was true; Galinda had been coughing and ‘accidentally’ bumping into things when Elphaba was concentrating ever since classes began. On this occasion, she had deliberately tripped over and fallen into Elphaba as she was reading a spell. Clearly, that had backfired.

Galinda, sniffed and looked away. After a long pause, she said grudgingly “Well, can’t you just cast it again?”

“Of course I can! You’re a genius. Why did I not think of that the second we landed on this beach?”

“There’s no need to be sarcastic, Miss Elphaba. At least I’m trying to be useful.”

“No, you’re trying to be _stupid_. If I could just cast a spell and take us back, do you not think I would? I’m enjoying this about as much as you are.”

“All right, all right. So what should we do?”

Elphaba shrugged. “At the moment, I don’t think there’s much we _can_ do. Look at the sky, it’s getting dark. I think we should just go further inland and try and sleep. We’ll figure something out tomorrow.”

Galinda stared at her. “You want us to do nothing?!”

“No, I want us to go further inland and try to sleep. Did you not hear me?”

With that, Elphaba turned around and started to walk away, towards the cliffs. Galinda gaped at her for a second, and then scurried after her.

“But what if it’s dangerous here? There might be people or Animals here that we can’t see, just waiting until it goes dark so that they can kill us. Or eat us!” She squeaked breathlessly when she caught up to Elphaba. “And where are we going to sleep? The whole beach is surrounded by cliffs. It might rain, you know.” she added as an afterthought. She didn’t know why her roommate had such an aversion to water, but she doubted Elphaba would be happy about rain.

Elphaba turned to glare at her, but didn’t stop walking. “Well, if I’m powerful enough to transport us to the middle of nowhere, I think I can defend us. Of course, if you don’t like it, you can stay here and try to get back by yourself.”

“I think you’re having delusions of grandeur, Elphaba. You’re not the only person in the world with magic, you know. And you still haven’t said where we’re going to sleep.”

“Maybe not in the world, but certainly the only person on this island, Galinda.” Elphaba matched her informality with an icy tone. “And I thought we would sleep in there.” She raised her hand to point at a small opening amongst the rocks that seemed to be a cave. Convenient, but Galinda wasn’t exactly thrilled about sleeping on the _ground,_ in a _cave_ in the middle of nowhere. Still, she didn’t want to be alone, and since she had no other options, she reluctantly followed her Elphaba into the cave.

Inside, it was larger than it first appeared to be. That was the only good thing about the situation. It was damp, foul-smelling and there were stalagmites and stalactites everywhere. At least, there was for as far as Galinda could see, because it was also pitch black as soon as she took three steps inside. She immediately turned to protest.

“We can’t sleep _here!_ There are rocks all over the ground, and it’s too dark to see anything.”

 “Well, we don’t have a choice!” Elphaba snapped, and Galinda decided it would be best to keep her mouth shut. She had never really been _scared_ of Elphaba, but that didn’t mean she wanted to piss her off.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Galinda asked timidly “Do you know how to build a fire?”

Elphaba sighed heavily. “I do, but we would need dry wood. I don’t think we’ll find any around here.” She paused for a moment. “I suppose I could try to make one with magic?”

That _almost_ sounded like she was asking for Galinda’s opinion. “It’s worth a try.” She offered. “It’s not like you can make things worse than they are.”

Elphaba nodded in agreement. She knelt down and started muttering the words of a spell under her breath. Galinda felt a twinge of jealousy, which shocked her. She would never have imagined that she could be jealous of Elphaba. But deep down, Galinda knew that she would never be as powerful as her roommate was. There was a reason Madame Morrible had only picked Elphaba to study sorcery.

She would never admit that to anyone, of course.

“Do you want me to try?” She offered in her sweetest-sounding voice. Elphaba turned to glare at her, and as she did, flames shot out of her hands and formed a small fire.

“See, I helped.” Galinda smirked. She bent her knees to get closer to the flame, relishing the heat. She hadn’t realised just how cold it had been until the fire had started.

“Sit down.”

“Huh?”

Elphaba shrugged. “I know you’re worried about soiling your perfect clothes,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “but you can’t stand up all night. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here.”

Galinda paused before slowly sinking to the ground. Well, that had been… oddly considerate of Elphaba. She glanced up at the green girl. Maybe it was just the light from the fire, but something about her seemed different. Softer than usual. Not in personality, of course- Galinda doubted anything could ever make Elphaba less abrasive. But her face, normally so angular, looked different in the gentle light.

She _almost_ looked pretty.

“Do I have something in my teeth?” Elphaba snapped, and Galinda quickly looked away, blushing. And then she was annoyed that she could possibly feel embarrassed by Elphaba, of all people.

They were sat there in silence for a while, each of the two girls deeply absorbed in their own thoughts. Galinda began to worry again. Before now it had seemed like a novelty; a nightmare that, while terrible, would end. But now she wasn’t so sure. A cave and a fire were fine for one night, but what would happen tomorrow? Elphaba was as shocked as she was at the magnitude of her spell. Surely she couldn’t recreate it without the spellbook. If they were stranded here, on a beach that she hadn’t known had even existed, how would they survive? For a start, how could they eat or drink? The panic built up inside her until she couldn’t bear to stay still and silent anymore. She jumped to her feet –and very nearly hit her head in the process- and started pacing while words gushed out of her mouth.

“What’s going to happen to us? What if we’re stuck here forever? How long do you think it’ll take for us to starve to death? Even if we don’t starve, it’s freezing. What if we freeze to death? I read that that can happen in your sleep. Or what if there are Animals, or tribes that want to eat us? Or what if-“

“Please stop talking.” Elphaba actually sounded amused, which mortified Galinda. At that moment, she would have been perfectly happy for the hypothetical cannibals to burst into the cave and eat them. But, since that didn’t happen, Galinda opened her mouth, probably to embarrass herself further, but Elphaba beat her to it.

“Firstly, we won’t be stuck here forever. I’m sure Madame Morrible is working to bring us back right now. I’m kind of an important student.” Galinda knew that Elphaba was joking, but she still didn’t appreciate the inference, and she frowned at her. Elphaba rolled her eyes and continued. “Secondly, the fire will keep us warm and there must be a food source beyond the cliffs. I saw something green. We’ll have to climb somehow, and if there’s plants back there, there will almost certainly be some kind of fruit, or animals that feed on them. If it comes to it, we’ll have to hunt them.” She frowned. “Of course, we would have to have no doubt that they were not Animals-”

“How do you know all that?” Galinda jumped in before Elphaba could start debating Animal rights vs. animal rights.

“I spent a lot of time in Quadling Country, there wasn’t always much food around.” Elphaba muttered distractedly, already deep in thought. Galinda looked at her in surprise. Elphaba didn’t typically talk about herself, and Galinda hadn’t known that about her roommate. Well, they weren’t friends. Why would Elphaba tell her anything?

Galinda knelt back down and silence fell again. Elphaba was staring into the flames again with a distant look on her face, and for some strange reason, appeared to be repeatedly wincing. Galinda hesitated to bring it up, since Elphaba hadn’t. But the prolonged silence was setting her on edge, and after a while she couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“Are you alright?”

“What?”

“You keep flinching.” Elphaba had a strange look on her face now -well, her face was strange regardless- and Galinda didn’t press the subject.

“I-“ Elphaba began, and then bit her lip. She pushed her hair back, something Galinda had seen her do on the few occasions that Elphaba seemed unsure of herself. Drawing in a deep breath, she began again. “It’s the mist.”

“What? The mist?”

“You probably feel your skin and your clothes getting damp, right?”

Galinda frowned. She hadn’t noticed until that moment, but now that Elphaba had mentioned it, she was acutely aware of the uncomfortable way that her wet clothes were rubbing her skin and the beads of moisture on her face, far too cold to be sweat.

Elphaba continued: “I have… I suppose the best word would be an allergy. To-“

“Water.” Galinda finished softly. “I’ve noticed.” She suddenly felt a rush of sympathy for the green girl. What an awful thing, to be allergic to something as common and unavoidable as water.

“It’s in the mist, I suppose it’s blowing from the ocean. It burns like acid, and right now it’s everywhere. And I think it’s beginning to rain.”

“How horrid.” Galinda murmured. A thought occurred to her. “How do you bathe?” Then she cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, that’s none of my business.”

For some reason, that made Elphaba smile. “Well, that’s the first time anyone’s been bold enough to ask me _that_. I use oil.”

“I’m sorry.” Galinda mumbled, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“You can’t tell anyone. Especially those awful girls you call your friends. They would probably think it would be funny to throw a bucket of water over me.”

“They would _never!_ ” A fierce sense of loyalty flared up inside Galinda, even knowing that that was exactly what Pfannee and Shenshen would do. Elphaba just raised her eyebrows. “I won’t tell them.” She promised, and they lapsed into silence yet again.

It was getting colder, and wetter.  Galinda could feel individual drops fall on her cheeks now, and judging by the pained look on Elphaba’s face, she could too. She shifted closer to the fire, and subtly repositioned herself so that her back was to the mouth of the cave and her body was directly in front of Elphaba. Her back was now taking the brunt of what was turning out to be a heavy rainstorm. And she didn’t know why she’d done it, why she’d made herself even more uncomfortable for Elphaba’s sake. But Elphaba nodded slightly in thanks, and Galinda nodded back, and she was glad that she’d done it.

She couldn’t tell if she’d succeeded in blocking the rain, though, because the fire began to die down, and after a few minutes, had flickered out completely. Galinda stared at the place it had been, waiting for her eyes to become accustomed to the sudden dark. Elphaba was just a tall shadow now, and the cold was seeping through her, aided by the constant battering of rain on her back and head.

“I don’t suppose you can get that going again?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Nothing. I can’t see you.” Though Galinda didn’t need to see the other girl to know that she was rolling her eyes.

“I’m _trying_. I don’t even know how I did it the first time without a spell or wand to use.”

“Well, then what do we do?” There was no reply. “Elphaba!”

“Sorry, I forgot you can’t see me. I was shrugging.”

 “Well, a lot of help you are.” Galinda muttered, feeling around for the wall so that she could lean back against it. She couldn’t even imagine the state her perfectly styled hair would be in now. And her dress, sent to her from her family back in Gillikin, must be ruined. All she wanted at that moment was to be warm and dry again. She shivered, and once she’d started, she couldn’t seem to stop, her teeth chattering incessantly.

This noise apparently irritated Elphaba.

“Come further into the cave. It’ll get you out of the rain, at least.”

She did have a point, and Galinda was slightly annoyed that she hadn’t thought of that to begin with. That was, until she tried to take a few steps forwards and walked face first into a wall. She toppled backwards, landing flat on her back.  As she lay there, mostly unhurt disregarding her pride, she could hear Elphaba cackling. Not laughing- actually _cackling_.  It made Galinda grimace just to hear it.

“I’m glad my distress is amusing to you, Miss Elphaba.” She said dryly. And then a thought struck her. “Can you see me?”

“Yes. You look like an idiot, but what’s your point?”

“Nothing. I can’t see you, that’s all. Do you have some kind of snake-like night vision?”

“I suppose I can just see better than you. And I’m certain it’s offensive to compare me to reptiles. Here, take my hand, I’ll help you up.”

Galinda waved her arms around for a while until she found Elphaba’s hand, which Elphaba offered no help with. When she took her hand, Galinda flinched a little. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but Elphaba’s hand felt like anyone else’s, soft and smooth. Her skin was ice-cold, though that was understandable given the circumstances. But there was nothing peculiar about it, apart from the colour. No scales or slime. Which was perfectly normal, of course, and Galinda didn’t know why she had anticipated otherwise. Maybe she should compare Elphaba to reptiles less often.

She used her grip on Elphaba’s hand to guide her to where she was standing, and leant against the wall next to her. They were in such close proximity that she could _feel_ Elphaba’s body heat, very faint but still there, and more than Galinda had. Elphaba must have been closer to the fire. Unthinkingly, Galinda pulled her closer, until their bodies were pressed together. Elphaba just let her.

“Are you cold?” She heard Elphaba ask, and she frowned.

“Of course I’m cold! I’m soaked through and the fire’s gone out. It’s freezing!”

“I’m quite warm.”

And Galinda’s frown deepened. Her face was pressed directly into Elphaba’s neck, her arms around her waist and their bodies pressed together, and she could tell that Elphaba was as cold as she was, if not more.

“You don’t _feel_ warm.” She muttered, almost accusingly. Elphaba didn’t answer, and Galinda was left wondering if she was lying. But why? Was being cold something that the green girl was really embarrassed about? After everything, it seemed that Galinda  had lost her own ability to be embarrassed in front of Elphaba.

At least, she thought she had, until Elphaba said “That would work a lot better if we were naked, you know.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Galinda spluttered, moving as far away from her as she could while still having her arms wrapped around Elphaba’s waist. However many innuendos she made, Galinda couldn’t bring herself to give up the tiny sliver of heat that came with being so close to Elphaba. Still, she needed to properly express her outrage.

She felt Elphaba’s shoulders move up and down in a shrug. “Doctor Dillamond told us in class.”

Galinda didn’t want to know how that subject had come about. Elphaba was still talking, trying to explain the scientific principles behind it, but Galinda was barely taking in a word. She felt odd, embarrassed, as though she should be blushing. Maybe she would be, if not for the cold, her blood too busy trying to heat up the rest of her body to warm her cheeks. Elphaba would know what she meant, Galinda mused, but there was no way that she was asking her, not in this situation.

They were leaning against the wall now, she noticed, gradually slipping further down. Soon they’d be on the floor. Elphaba had stopped talking now, although Galinda wasn’t sure when that was, how long they had been in that position. It could have been minutes or hours. She wondered whether she had been asleep, whether Elphaba was too.

“Elphaba,” she murmured, each syllable feeling like the hardest effort she had ever made. She didn’t know when she had gotten this tired. Elphaba made the merest grunt in reply, so small that Galinda didn’t know whether it was a response or not. She couldn’t continue, but she pulled her body closer to the floor so that they wouldn’t fall, Elphaba’s following limply. Within a few minutes, they were both lying on the ground, curled around each other.

_In the morning,_ Galinda thought. She would deal with this situation and all of the embarrassment that came along with it in the morning. And hopefully before that she would realise that this was all a dream.


End file.
